Aygo
Rock n' Roll Doggie
U2 are lame and they suck arse!
Zootlesque said:
But I still maintain that Zooropa and Pop were the most innovative albums of U2's career...
LemonMacPhisto said:How do you measure album quality then?
The unabashed reviews of indietastic mags like Pitchfork?
Chiz brings up a great point, they have marketed themselves differently this decade. It was a direct cause of the success of ATYCLB, if it had flopped in the US (by U2 standards), they wouldn't have that "Biggest Band in the World" moniker.
Truth is, I think most people here are extremely critical of U2 like a parent is to a prodigal son. They will always create something good, and you'll enjoy it, but you think they might be capable of so much more.
I'd take some of U2's "worst" songs over the "most popular" songs on the radio any day of the week, but that's just me.
PlaTheGreat said:Yeah but music isn't relatable to Pepsi.
At least you can put U2 music on your U2 iPod.
Something like that.
wolfwill23 said:
I know they're getting older, but it's a shame to sit down and realize that this band doesn't have a lot of gas left in the tank. I hope with the new album they go off and try some new things. I don't think records should be left-overs from other albums but rather an cohesive experience from start to finish.
Thanks for the good tunes U2 and I hope the next one is something memorable. Best of luck.
carrotflowers said:I certainly don't expect something 'revolutionary' from U2 and I never have. The problem with HTDAAB is the average songwriting and the sappy, idealistic lyrics like 'freedom has a scent, like the top of a new born baby's head' yuck! This coming from someone who wrote a line like 'every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a theif, all kill their inspiration and sing about the grief'.
Bono seems to have lost that sense of irony which is the sole reason he got away with so much in the early 90's. I can never understand why people like 'Crumbs' so much. You only have to listen to the acousitc version on the bonus HTDAAB disc to realise it is an ordinary song. The way he rhymes 'able' with 'table' just makes me cringe.
Bono is no longer the fly, he is no longer hero and villan. He is a product. Their music is now like an episode of Oprah, it's safe and it's in-offensive and that is something I never wanted U2 to become. It feels like they just pumped this album out so they could tour and say more things about all the campaigns and the missions and wars that Bono is fighting.
Bono has to leave the politics for a while. It seems like he's afraid to say anything to offensive or scathing in case he loses some important friends that he's made. The Edge has to get that fire back and use some of his recent tragedies to spark something brilliant within him.
Bono used to really move me and give me chills when he went on his rants because it was so spontaneous and so angry. Now it feels like he's doing a late night info-mercial or he's a sappy pentacostal preacher or something.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. I think if Bono and Edge really thouight about it, they would agree with what I'm saying. Unless they're just to far up their own asses now to realise.
carrotflowers said:I certainly don't expect something 'revolutionary' from U2 and I never have. The problem with HTDAAB is the average songwriting and the sappy, idealistic lyrics like 'freedom has a scent, like the top of a new born baby's head' yuck! This coming from someone who wrote a line like 'every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a theif, all kill their inspiration and sing about the grief'.
Bono seems to have lost that sense of irony which is the sole reason he got away with so much in the early 90's. I can never understand why people like 'Crumbs' so much. You only have to listen to the acousitc version on the bonus HTDAAB disc to realise it is an ordinary song. The way he rhymes 'able' with 'table' just makes me cringe.
Bono is no longer the fly, he is no longer hero and villan. He is a product. Their music is now like an episode of Oprah, it's safe and it's in-offensive and that is something I never wanted U2 to become. It feels like they just pumped this album out so they could tour and say more things about all the campaigns and the missions and wars that Bono is fighting.
Bono has to leave the politics for a while. It seems like he's afraid to say anything to offensive or scathing in case he loses some important friends that he's made. The Edge has to get that fire back and use some of his recent tragedies to spark something brilliant within him.
Bono used to really move me and give me chills when he went on his rants because it was so spontaneous and so angry. Now it feels like he's doing a late night info-mercial or he's a sappy pentacostal preacher or something.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. I think if Bono and Edge really thouight about it, they would agree with what I'm saying. Unless they're just to far up their own asses now to realise.
ozeeko said:
I feel ya, bra!! Totally agree, although Bono is way too deep into the political game right now to just drop it. It wouldn't really make sense for him or his cause. Also, I don't really care what the fuck they do on or off stage, just write a decent album for Christ's sake!! Writing songs is the biggest problem. If they're writing was top-notch as it was in the past, then i wouldn't give a crap what Bono is up to when he ain't singing.
Hallucination said:I still really like HTDAAB. Personally I think it's one of U2's top 3 maybe 4 albums. I like it alot better than ATYCLB(which I liked as well) so I think they're moving forward. What do people really expect though? I mean if people are always gonna look back and wish U2 was more like they were ten, 15, 20 years ago than fine but at the same time if u2 reverts back to those ways they're simply rehashing themselves. They can't win. People want the "old" U2 and when they get it they complain that U2 doesn't take risks anymore and if they did people would complain that it's not enough like U2. It's a never ending cycle. People need to stop expecting classic albums every single release. It just can't happen. Then again U2 is one of the very few bands ever really, who do have such high expectations every time they release an album and to me that says alot about their entire catelogue as a whole not just Johua Tree and Achtung Baby. Just keep in mind people that U2's "forgettable albums" are most often so much greater than the alternatives.
LuvandPeace1980 said:
Although I can see how it appears for yourself it's strange because if you gave a crap about the music back then and you really took it and believed it so much, then you would care what he is trying to do for the planet. I did and do.
It seems now that he actually is in a position to create some real change you crucify him for it. Which is the exact reason The Fly and ZOO TV came about in the first place. Very strange.
Yeah U2's not smart arse like it was in the 90's like they used to be. But I this is not the time to be smartarse.
This is the time to be honest lean and have no clutter and have no possibile mis interpretations of what you represent. It's about doing not saying
carrotflowers said:I certainly don't expect something 'revolutionary' from U2 and I never have. The problem with HTDAAB is the average songwriting and the sappy, idealistic lyrics like 'freedom has a scent, like the top of a new born baby's head' yuck! This coming from someone who wrote a line like 'every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a theif, all kill their inspiration and sing about the grief'.
Bono seems to have lost that sense of irony which is the sole reason he got away with so much in the early 90's. Bono is no longer the fly, he is no longer hero and villan. He is a product.
doctorwho said:
Bono's lyrics have taken on a more personal aspect. It's all too easy for him to attack what's out there. In the 80's, he attacked the "powers that be". In the early 90's, he mocked commercialism. But slowly, he turned inward. And perhaps it's this phase of his lyrics you don't like. I accept that. But there's been quite a lot of good from this era as well. "Mojo" was very personal. "Love & Peace" was perhaps the best anti-war song Bono's written (both abstract, yet powerful). "Vertigo" is all about imagery - and a far more interesting thought than "desert rose".
Hallucination said:I still really like HTDAAB. Personally I think it's one of U2's top 3 maybe 4 albums. I like it alot better than ATYCLB(which I liked as well) so I think they're moving forward. What do people really expect though? I mean if people are always gonna look back and wish U2 was more like they were ten, 15, 20 years ago than fine but at the same time if u2 reverts back to those ways they're simply rehashing themselves. They can't win. People want the "old" U2 and when they get it they complain that U2 doesn't take risks anymore and if they did people would complain that it's not enough like U2. It's a never ending cycle. People need to stop expecting classic albums every single release. It just can't happen. Then again U2 is one of the very few bands ever really, who do have such high expectations every time they release an album and to me that says alot about their entire catelogue as a whole not just Johua Tree and Achtung Baby. Just keep in mind people that U2's "forgettable albums" are most often so much greater than the alternatives.
carrotflowers said:
Bono does a lot for the world and that is great, but U2 no longer speak to this generation. I don't go to a concert and think 'yeah!, let's save the world with Bono!' I think 'Yeah, play some of your old stuff when you actually gave a toss about what you sounded like!'.
LuvandPeace1980 said:
For someone who hasn't seen a U2 concert, particulary The Vertigo Tour you sure are making a large assumption . Just wait til you see them in a few weeks and then make up your mind.
I saw 3 shows in Europe last year and they were mind blowing and it's the only concert out there that is about what you call 'saving the world'.
I mean if you can name any other tour out there which even has anything to do with all of the issues within The Vertigo Tour let me know.. Even a U2 one
Of all of U2's tours ever thats what this one is about the most.. You will eat your words after you see them in Adelaide though
As much as I commend you for coming up with that line (did you write that?), I have to disagree with it applying to U2. I would agree if U2 weren't being sincere, but has it occured to you that U2 might actually believe in the music they are making right now?carrotflowers said:
Mediocrity is terrible when it's marketed as sincerity.
carrotflowers said:
I could name about one hundred albums that are more thought provoking, more innovative, more emotional and just better. Take Arcade Fire's 'funeral' for example, this albums walks all over HTDAAB. U2 even had one of their songs as the opening to their shows last year, which proves U2 still have an idea of what great music is. Songs like 'Crumbs', 'All Because Of You', 'AMAAW', 'OSCTK', 'Yaweh' (oh god that's such an awful song) are all below the bar U2 has previously set. They are ordinary songs, they are lyrically dry, they are safe, they are inoffensive and I'm sorry war child but this generation doesn't respond to those sorts of things. They see through things like that, they see safe, inoffensive things all day on their tv's, they hear it all the time from their politicians.
I said it before, I'm not after innovation and honestly, I don't mind if a band wants to repeat themselves but if they're going to do it, do it better than before. An album like HTDAAB just sounds like the blueprint for a better U2 album like ummmm, gee, I don't know, The Joshua Tree maybe!!
I don't know how you can sit back and listen to this album and feel provoked in anyway about the tragedies going on in the world today. I don't know how you can listen to it without feeling cheap because let's face it, you are accepting average material from a band you have spent probably about 400 to 500 dollars on in the past. They are treating their fans like fools when they release crap like this, they basically think they're are so good and their fan-base is so loyal that they can release anything and we'll all swallow it. I refuse to swallow it, I don't care what the hell Bono is doing for the world, if it's so great then leave U2 and become a politician. Don't release sub-par material and pretend you're so sincere about the whole thing. Mediocrity is terrible when it's marketed as sincerity.
Bono does a lot for the world and that is great, but U2 no longer speak to this generation. I don't go to a concert and think 'yeah!, let's save the world with Bono!' I think 'Yeah, play some of your old stuff when you actually gave a toss about what you sounded like!'.
Bono fails to realise that the only reason he is in a position of power is because U2 were so great, now he is selling himself and his fans short. The more MOR and safe their music becomes, the more of a joke Bono becomes. Wether that's right or wrong it's true and it's just how the public work. Once the band goes down, everyone in the band goes down with it and any campaign or fight is damaged beyond recovery because it has been shrouded in a cloak of mediocrity and ageing rock stars still clutching at former glory which has long since left them.
Don't sell yourself out just because Bono is a great guy, so what?
Expect more from this band or else they really will think they can release any old crap and we'll swallow it. Search deep within yourself and listen to HTDAAB and tell me you don't feel a little dirty afterwards, a little bit like a corporate hack. After all, all you know is wrong, right?
Michael Griffiths said:
As much as I commend you for coming up with that line (did you write that?), I have to disagree with it applying to U2. I would agree if U2 weren't being sincere, but has it occured to you that U2 might actually believe in the music they are making right now?
Aygo said:Are you folks still discussing this?